Unexpected Disclosures
by Seien24
Summary: Any new development in the relationship between Ultra Magnus and Sentinel Prime could only ever happen by accident... Takes place after the end of Return of the Headmaster. TFA, MagnusxSentinel, slash, fluff.


**Name: **Unexpected Disclosures  
**Rating: **R for sexual relations between mechanical beings  
**Wordcount: **5,201 words  
**Pairing: **Ultra MagnusxSentinel Prime (TFA)  
**Author's Notes: **Begins just after the end of _Return of the Headmaster_. Thanks to Noa (Ironical Jester), Konora and Drake for their tireless beta-reading. Especially thanks to Noa, who introduced me to this pairing, and helped me along all the time with the plot and character relations.

--

"And that's all you have to report?" Ultra Magnus folded his arms on the desk in front of him, studying the younger mech before him.

"Absolutely, sir," Sentinel replied with considerably more confidence than he felt. The incident with the Headmaster had been more than humiliating for the young Prime, and had Ultra Magnus found out… well, he _had thanked_ Optimus.

Of course, Ultra Magnus had asked – after Optimus and his maintenance grunts had departed – that Sentinel present to him a full report of the incident with the Headmaster. Naturally Sentinel had responded with a brushed up, more detailed version of Optimus' story, and as far as he could tell his account was flawless, devoid of inconsistencies.

He had not realised that his too-expressive antennae had already given him away – they had trembled when Ultra Magnus first questioned the two Primes.

"Very well," Ultra Magnus replied calmly. "Come here, Sentinel Prime."

The Autobot Supreme Commander was calmly, coolly authoritative. His demeanour was not – was never – challenging or intimidating. He sat with his hands on the desk in front of him, regarding his subordinate with a serious, though not especially stern, expression.

Sentinel's antennae flicked, betraying his nervousness, but he obeyed the order. At first, he kept the other side of the desk, but a brusque "No, come _here_," put him standing in front of his seated commanding officer.

Ultra Magnus stood, dwarfing Sentinel considerably. The younger officer was by no means a lightweight, but set next to the Supreme Commander he looked all but graceful, and entirely as young as he was.

The young Prime didn't flinch, but his optics widened and his antennae twitched sharply as Ultra Magnus reached out and ran the fingers of both hands over his neck. The pale metal fingers were cool and firm against the covered tensor cables.

"Since this was a field job," Ultra Magnus explained patiently, "I ought to check it over, to make sure it was done correctly. Although it seems to me that Optimus has done a good job," he added, and Sentinel stiffened perceptibly. Ultra Magnus didn't respond to that. It was simply impossible to refer overtly to Sentinel's acerbity and aggression; not because he would have become exponentially more defensive, or could not have dealt with having his abrasive attitude confronted directly – although these things were certainly true – but simply because it was not relevant to their dynamic to do so.

Sentinel was, in fact, somewhat uncomfortable. He didn't know what to do, and he didn't like that at all. On the one hand, every signal he'd got from Ultra Magnus thus far was that this situation was purely platonic, hardly more than a routine check-up. On the other… Sentinel couldn't deny that the distinctly intimate touches, the proximity of his Commander – and sometimes lover – were affecting him, and probably more than they ought.

He stood stock still, save for the occasional flick or quiver of his antennae, whilst his Commander checked every joint, circuit and connection at his neck. In fact, he only began to wonder at the situation when he realised that Ultra Magnus was double-checking – even perhaps triple-checking – the connections over-meticulously, with considerably more pedantry than the task could possibly requre. Apparently, the fact that his Commander had not chosen to simply order him to medbay and deliver the results of a diagnostic scan instead of doing the job by hand had not tipped him off in the first place, so concerned was he with the older mech's own body language and expressions – which were, admittedly, anything but inviting.

"…Sir?"

"Yes, Sentinel Prime?"

"What are you… doing?"

"As I told you a few nano-kliks ago, I am checking that your head was reattached correctly."

Ultra Magnus sounded patiently exasperated, as if Sentinel's question were simultaneously absurd and tedious. Sentinel fell quiet for a moment, befuddled and somewhat disbelieving, as well as anxious that his Commander should stop soon if he really meant nothing more by it – Sentinel was having difficulty overriding his systems' response to the probing touches.

Ultra Magnus drew a step closer, close enough for their proximity to be physically noticeable, and his thumb brushed the base of Sentinel's antenna, seemingly by accident. The younger Autobot shuddered and his optics widened.

"Are you sure?" he asked sceptically.

"Quite certain," answered Ultra Magnus, somewhat quieter than before, and Sentinel's mouth turned up just slightly at the corners.

"Understood, sir," he mumbled, and let himself enjoy his Commander's touches. Just a little, mind – Ultra Magnus was being distinctly… evasive, and Sentinel was still unsure as to how to handle such unusual behaviour.

Their dance was a complex one; having developed over the stellar cycles they had worked together without a single explicit word said between them. Sentinel could not have explained by what method he understood when Ultra Magnus was receptive to affections, nor could Ultra Magnus have said precisely what indication he gave when he was. The point was that the indications and the understanding of those indications did occur, however vague and undefined, and so long as that continued to happen explicit language was redundant.

Every so often, Ultra Magnus' hand would brush against the base of Sentinel's antennae, and the young officer would barely be able to prevent a whimper of pleasure escaping his vocaliser. His optics would gutter every time, lips parting slightly. The antennae were, naturally, sensory devices: exquisitely receptive. They both knew that Ultra Magnus had as good as explained what he was really doing, the charade of a diagnostic check dispelled, and so it was quite permissible for Ultra Magnus to drop his hands suddenly to Sentinel's wrists and pull him closer. Hands thus occupied, Ultra Magnus coaxed Sentinel to tip his head and give his Commander access to his neck. The older Autobot mouthed softly at the sensors already brought to life by his hands, occasionally lapping at the metal under his mouth or nipping gently at a tensor cable. Sentinel shuddered and tried to bring his hands up to reciprocate: Ultra Magnus gripped his wrists tight, preventing the action, effortlessly stronger than the younger Transformer.

Sentinel was not content with this turn of events.

"_Magnus_," he whined, quietly, petulantly. "Let me--!"

He was cut off by a sharp nip over his vocaliser.

"I did not give you permission to speak," Ultra Magnus growled, his lips against Sentinel's neck, "Sentinel _Prime_."

Sentinel shuddered and said nothing. Ultra Magnus was being unusually controlling, and the younger mech would simply have to accept it – not that it wasn't, admittedly, rather appealing, but Sentinel couldn't stand having to give up control, least of all over himself. Here all he could do was submit.

Even so, somehow it wasn't so bad.

Ultra Magnus backed Sentinel against the wall, pressing his subordinate's hand there as if to say, don't you dare move it, and then released Sentinel's wrist, freeing his hand up to firmly clasp the younger Autobot's waist. His hand ran up Sentinel's waist to trace gentle, determined fingertips over the outline of his headlights, the back of his hand moving to brush the inside of one snow plough.

Sentinel let his head fall back against the wall and gasped roughly. His hand came up unthinkingly to clutch at Ultra Magnus' waist, and immediately the Commander pulled it away by the wrist to press it back down, biting sharply over his vocaliser again. Sentinel flinched and whined.

"Ow," he mumbled reproachfully. It wasn't really a painful bite, but he was annoyed that he wasn't being allowed to reciprocate and it made him exaggerate. Ultra Magnus gripped his wrist harder.

"Ultra Magnus, sir, please..." Sentinel whimpered softly, and Ultra Magnus distinctly _shuddered_ against him. Sentinel purred to himself.

"I don't think so," growled Ultra Magnus, right up close to Sentinel's audioprocessor, and all of a sudden his mouth was on the younger Autobot's antenna, glossa exploring the base, lips caressing the antennae themselves, mouthing them softly.

Sentinel arched right back, chest scraping against his Commander's, and moaned. His optics were flickering uncontrollably, intakes louder than usual as they worked hard to cool his systems. Ultra Magnus lapped at the tip of the antennae he held captive and raised his hand to caress the other, and right on cue Sentinel's engines kicked into first gear.

"Ooh, _Magnus_," Sentinel mewed pleadingly, tugging at his hands, "Magnus, _ple-ease_–!"

Ultra Magnus shuddered again, harder this time, and muttered thickly against Sentinel's antenna.

"Why should I?"

When Sentinel said nothing, the elder drew back to look at him. Sentinel gave him a dazed, pleading look, panting softly, optics dim. He couldn't say, _I want to touch you_, it wasn't possible for him to say that, but he had no other reason.

Ultra Magnus' optics dimmed and he finally relented, hands uncurling from Sentinel's wrists and finding his hips instead. Immediately Sentinel was on him, fingers running everywhere he knew from experience Ultra Magnus liked, pressing just right, just enough, and Ultra Magnus stumbled a step forwards to pin Sentinel against the wall. He grabbed Sentinel's face and twisted his head to the side, pulling him into a hard, searing kiss. Sentinel reeled.

The touches continued, every noise purposely muffled, every grab and scrape of fingers becoming progressively more frantic, more searching, seeking more desperately to end the frustration in ecstatic overload. It was the way they always did it - overload would follow from simple tactile stimulation. To do more would have been unthinkable. Neither could initiate it, because to do so would have been evidence, admission, of premeditated desire.

Unthinkable was a relative term.

Every pleading mew and whimper that fell from Sentinel's lips went straight to Ultra Magnus' lasercore, the heat spreading through his systems, not dissipating. And yet it was Sentinel who finally lost control after so many stellar cycles. It was indefinable what finally caused it, which touch, which nip or lick to which sensitive part. Whatever it was, it made Sentinel's knees buckle, made him clutch at Ultra Magnus' shoulders for support, and suddenly his chestplates were shifting, rearranging. The younger Autobot cried out impulsively, trying to regain control, but only succeeded in stopping them half-open. His spark was glowing hot through the cracks against Magnus' own plating, sparks spitting between them, trying to bond. Sentinel was utterly mortified.

"Magnus, s-sir," he whimpered, trying through his haze of lust to explain himself, excuse himself, somehow rescue the situation and save face. He could hardly form the syllables of his lover's name coherently.

For a few mortifying nano-kliks, there was silence but for the whirring of their vents and rumbling of their engines. The silence was broken eventually - after those agonizing nano-kliks that felt like megacycles - by nothing but a soft chink of metal on metal, and a muffled gasp.

Ultra Magnus hauled Sentinel into a kiss, unlike any kiss he had given Sentinel before: searching, wanting, a silent admission of _need_. It didn't matter so much any more. Sentinel had already given away his own need for his lover, his Commander. For Ultra Magnus to follow him with his own admission was now entirely permissible, so long as it was left unvoiced.

The kiss eventually broke, and Sentinel gazed open-mouthed and panting up at his lover as Ultra Magnus' optics flickered, and his own chestplates rearranged themselves, shyly, awkwardly. Indeed, the whole moment was painfully, painfully awkward - and utterly erotic. This latter was sealed when a crackle of energy shot between them, and Ultra Magnus tipped his head back with a quiet, rough moan.

"_Sentinel..._"

Sentinel's legs almost gave way beneath him again. Hearing his name moaned like that from his commander's lips was possibly the single most arousing thing the young officer could imagine. He took initiative. He had to: he had realised he couldn't stand following through with this without falling over, an indignity he did really want to suffer. He nudged Ultra Magnus backwards, hands half pushing and half clutching at the big mech's shoulders, toward his chair, the closest place for them to sit down - typical, that this would happen at last in Magnus' office and not in his quarters!

Ultra Magnus took the hint and staggered backwards, pulling Sentinel with him - oh, oh he was _accepting!_ - and collapsed back into it. Sentinel followed gracelessly, all but falling across his lover's body, and managing to rearrange himself just before it became embarrassing so that he was straddling Ultra Magnus' hips, knees tucked into the chair by his Commander's hips, hands on Magnus' shoulders.

His chestplates shifted all the way back, and Ultra Magnus curled strong, irresistible hands around Sentinel's back and pulled him down.

Their sparks connected in a blaze of heat and shared desire, and Sentinel's optics shorted out. He cried out something, muffled it against Ultra Magnus' shoulder, pressed himself harder against his lover's body. The feeling was absolutely, _unbearably_ exquisite, and it was only compounded by the feeling of their very consciousnesses slowly, inexorably meshing together, combining, sharing. It was, simply, perfect.

Of course, in reality it was anything but perfect. As always they fit awkwardly together, the ill fit of their bodies only made more obvious by the further proximity; Sentinel almost lost his balance once or twice, slipping from his perch astride Magnus' hips; but they kept the position up, completely unaware that they were as unwieldy and clumsy as they ever were amidst the ecstasy of their bonding. It was accidental by necessity - both knew now how much they had wanted it, although before neither had realised, and they could never have suggested it on purpose even if they had. It was all as it should be.

Overwhelmed by the strength of their combined pleasure, it was Sentinel who tipped over the edge first with a breathy, muffled cry that might have been Magnus' name if there was not the ever-present danger of being overheard. Ultra Magnus followed soon afterward, the surge of Sentinel's systems against his and through their new connection providing him with the stimulus needed to push him into overload.

They lay for a long time like that, the younger sprawled limp and ungainly across the elder, neither looking at each other nor speaking with each other. Neither could think of anything good to say. Finally, though, Sentinel spoke; he did so in an astonishingly timid voice, one that he usually would never, ever let Ultra Magnus hear, let alone anyone else.

"Magnus? Did we... just...?"

"Yes," answered Ultra Magnus gruffly, and the affirmation was echoed tentatively across the fledgling bond.

Sentinel nodded in acknowledgment. He felt he ought to move, to get off, to _apologise_, but... he had no idea how to begin doing any of them. He was exhausted.

Luckily, Ultra Magnus solved that problem for him.

"You're dismissed," he murmured quietly, "and you're off-duty for the rest of this solar cycle."

Sentinel, now under a direct order, forced his unwilling body to move and to do so in a coordinated fashion. He picked himself off his lover's - his _bondmate's_ - body, stumbling and leaning on the desk for support.

"Yes, sir," he managed faintly, and eased himself up, equilibrium returning slowly as he diverted more power to his motor functions. It was draining on his already taxed systems, but it gave him the appearance of being more or less fine, if still a little tired. He saluted, slightly sloppily, and left Ultra Magnus' office, wondering dimly what the frag had just taken place.

On the way to his quarters, which suddenly seemed miles from the bridge, he ran into Jazz. Entirely his luck - there was only one other living mechanism on board the ship, and off course that infuriating black and white couldn't manage to just stay elsewhere for the couple thousand nano-kliks it might have taken Sentinel to get to his own quarters and lie down.

"Yo, Sentinel. You look like scrap, man," Jazz remarked offhandedly, surprised that Sentinel was apparently only leaving the Commander's office now. Surely a simple debriefing couldn't have taken _that_ long. Sentinel shot him a typically vexed, impatient look.

"What did you expect?" he snapped, a little harsher than he'd meant to, and brushed past Jazz, clearly in no mood to talk. Jazz shrugged, brushing it off completely - he knew Sentinel's hang-ups; his age, his fear of failing, even something of the young officer's past - he didn't know the femme's name, but he'd heard about the catastrophe. He tended to be more or less completely unfazed by Sentinel no matter how arrogant, smug or petulant the younger mech was. His eternally easy-going attitude helped - it was hard to faze Jazz anyway.

He made his way to Ultra Magnus' office, intending to ask for information on Sentinel's condition and their next move.

Ultra Magnus was sitting with his head in his hands, elbows propped on the desk. One could not have described him as stunned, horrified, or disconsolate; he looked merely tired. He looked up when Jazz knocked on the door and called him in.

Jazz never found out the reason, but he learned quickly that today was a day to avoid Ultra Magnus. The usually calm Supreme Commander seemed irritable, impatient, even downright tetchy, a trait Jazz had been doubting Ultra Magnus possessed at all.

--

When that solar cycle drew to a close and the three Elite Guard prepared to recharge, Sentinel was disturbed by a call on his intercom. Jazz had been out most of the day, also off-duty but on call, exploring the planet they were on, whilst Sentinel himself had spent every single nano-klik curled up sulking in his quarters. For some reason that he couldn't pinpoint he had felt achingly lonely all day - he never usually felt like this. He realised eventually the obvious cause, but he knew nothing whatsoever about bonds. He didn't know why it made him feel lonely, and he didn't understand how to alleviate it, so he just stayed put and moped.

That is, until he was disturbed by the call on his intercom. He answered, sounding considerably better than he felt.

"_Ultra Magnus, sir?_"

"_Sentinel Prime... report to my quarters. Immediately._"

Sentinel didn't understand his Commander's motive, didn't know how to react, but an order was an order.

"_Sir, yes sir. I'm on my way._"

He stood up, feeling more rested than he had when he'd lain down but much worse in the head, and made the short journey down the hall to Ultra Magnus' quarters. He glanced about for signs of Jazz - the telltale subsonic vibrations of the black-and-white's music system were audible from the hallway, and Sentinel reassured himself that Jazz would be paying no attention whatsoever to the outside world. He knocked softly on the door to Ultra Magnus' quarters, and it was opened almost immediately. It was a lapse - Ultra Magnus had revealed that he'd been waiting for Sentinel.

The Supreme Commander ushered Sentinel inside and shut the door. It locked automatically. The confusion was obvious on Sentinel's face, but Ultra Magnus could say nothing to alleviate it. Instead he took Sentinel gently by the arm and pulled him close.

Sentinel's optics dimmed in uncertainty - it was so unusual for Ultra Magnus to initiate interface directly by touching, not to mention the fact that he'd been called to his Commander's quarters for it in the first place - but he took the perceived hint and let his hand drop to his lover's hip, squeezing gently, trying to move closer. However, his bewilderment, and embarrassment, only increased when Ultra Magnus took his hand and pulled it gently but firmly away. This was not usual behaviour. This was wrong and confusing and Sentinel didn't know how to cope, how to react. He gave Ultra Magnus a pleading look, and the Supreme Commander guided him wordlessly over his recharge plate.

Sentinel allowed himself to be pressed down on the berth, and Ultra Magnus lay down beside him on his back, putting an arm around Sentinel's shoulders to pull him close. This did not alleviate the young Autobot's puzzlement. Every sign was that Ultra Magnus wanted to initiate interface... except his willingness to actually respond to Sentinel's touches. The situation was rapidly becoming more and more undignified, more embarrassing, and Sentinel didn't know what to do. His antennae were quivering, and Ultra Magnus reached up to stroke them with one hand. Sentinel's optics guttered and he mewed questioningly, staring up at his Commander, trying to tell him without words that he had no idea what to do and that it was absolutely mortifying.

Due to the clandestine nature of their relationship, they never shared quarters save for the occasional half a megacycle post-overload when Jazz was out training and they would not be seen. There _was_ no unvocalised code evolved for these situations, as there was for their other intimacies, and of course Ultra Magnus could not say what he wanted, what he needed. After much silent deliberation, he murmured softly to his young lover, still holding Sentinel with a hand about his slender waist. "Relax, Sentinel Prime."

Sentinel's confusion did not abate. In response to the pale hand absentmindedly caressing his antennae, he reached up to tease the tip of one of Ultra Magnus' own antenna. A shudder went through the Supreme Commander, but he took Sentinel by the wrist and pulled his hand away again, this time with a touch of irritation. Sentinel cringed, knowing he'd done something wrong and not knowing how to rectify it, and this time he lay still, feeling stupid and inert.

And that was when he noticed that the ache in his spark that had plagued him all day had more or less abated completely with his proximity to Ultra Magnus. Finally, he understood his bondmate's motive, and he relaxed considerably - even going so far as to take the liberty of pressing his chest closer to Ultra Magnus' body. When Ultra Magnus sighed and relaxed slightly next to him, seemed only to enjoy it and did not protest, Sentinel snuggled in close, giving his spark the tight vicinity it craved. He couldn't deny that he loved being just held in Ultra Magnus' arms, a pleasure he'd not known before. It gave him a sense of... safety, and satisfaction. Made him feel wonderfully needed.

That Ultra Magnus was now not only his lover but his _bonded_ only served to increase that feeling. Or, perhaps it was the cause. It didn't matter to Sentinel, though, either way.

The Supreme Commander shifted a bit, pressing his chest obliquely against Sentinel's rather than his side, and Sentinel shifted awkwardly in his bonded's arms, thrown off balance by the loss of support at his back. Ultra Magnus managed to get his arm around Sentinel's back and press him closer, leaving the younger mech with almost nowhere to put his head. The problem was only solved when Ultra Magnus shifted upwards, letting Sentinel tuck his head beneath his bondmate's jaw. It was by far the most intimate they'd ever been and neither was comfortable with it, unsure of how to cope, unsure of what to do, to say.

Ultra Magnus was lost, but Sentinel was afraid. He was afraid of the whole situation, despite the fact that everything had been given Ultra Magnus' sanction - the bond had been Sentinel's initiative (perhaps accident was a better word), but Ultra Magnus had consented to join when he could still have brought Sentinel off with his hands; it had been Ultra Magnus who had ordered Sentinel to his quarters; and ultimately every one of the anomalous intimacies that had come to pass since Sentinel had obeyed that order had been at Ultra Magnus' initiative. Logically speaking, Sentinel should have taken this knowledge and made himself comfortable with it, knowing it was all sanctioned by the only individual that mattered.

It was instead this latter fact, that Ultra Magnus mattered, that made Sentinel afraid. He was horrified with the thought that he might do something wrong, misread some signal - it had never been so much of an issue before! - and cause Ultra Magnus some displeasure, or himself some terrible embarrassment. He needed to know what Ultra Magnus' exact motive was, where he stood - and it was the one thing he could not ask.

Thankfully, Sentinel was not the only one whose mind was set more firmly on their current situation than on recharging.

"You'll be willing to stay here more often," Ultra Magnus said quietly. Cleverly phrased so as to not quite admit out loud that it was something he himself wanted, it was a question and not a statement that he offered his bondmate.

A question, for Sentinel, with only one answer.

"O-of _course_, sir," Sentinel whispered back, barely keeping the delight, the _pride_ from his tone. He could hardly agree too quickly. There was the barest tightening of Ultra Magnus' arms around Sentinel's body, and suddenly the queerest feeling came over the young Prime, one of sudden and inexplicable uncertainty - of course, Sentinel felt uncertainty, especially where Ultra Magnus was concerned, but his own uncertainty was always set against a wider canvas of fear and potential humiliation. This feeling was not like that. It had no trepidation, no potential of panic - perhaps at most just the slightest apprehension tainted the otherwise wholly calm and composed context in which the feeling lay, twinned with an undertone of deep affection. It was simply uncertainty due to a lack of knowledge and understanding.

It was Ultra Magnus' feeling.

Sentinel's optics widened in surprise, glowing brighter, and he imagined that from the slight stiffening of his bondmate's body that something of Sentinel's own feelings had transmitted to Ultra Magnus. He felt as though he should apologise for it - it was _deeply_ embarrassing. Sentinel tried to guard himself and his sentiments as much as he possibly could. Perhaps if he had known that Ultra Magnus read him, more or less, like a fully-charged datapad, he might have been less worried; but then, he would never have allowed himself to get so close to the Supreme Commander had he truly known that. He'd have run before it could happen.

There were endless nano-kliks of awkward silence in which Sentinel waited for his bonded to challenge him, to accuse him or ridicule him in some way; it never happened. Ultra Magnus shifted slightly again, the movement after the stillness causing Sentinel's antennae to flick nervously, but the older Autobot merely secured his arms around his younger bondmate and settled again.

"Recharge, Sentinel."

The words, the permission for such an extent of vulnerability, and the realisation that Ultra Magnus wanted Sentinel to stay here for the whole seemed to break some barrier in Sentinel's mind and he began to speak softly, hurried and fearful.

"Y-you don't have to do this, Ultra Magnus, sir, I-I don't need coddling; i-it's not _appropriate_, you don't have t-to humour me-- I know I'm j-just convenient, it's not necessary--!"

Just like that, Sentinel broke every unspoken rule they had. They both knew it, and it was nearly unforgivable. Sentinel was trembling, humiliated and nonetheless unable to stop himself from blurting it all out, finally overwhelmed by the emotional stress of bonding.

Ultra Magnus, however, was a very forgiving mech. To shut Sentinel up, stop him from breaking the rules of their game any further, the Supreme Commander crushed his lips to his bondmate's, silencing him. Sentinel gave a stunned, muffled yelp, trembled for a good several nano-kliks, and then shuddered and melted into the kiss, into Ultra Magnus' arms, optics dimming from their fevered brightness of panic.

When he judged that Sentinel was calmed - both from his physical relaxation and the calming of his agitation that had flooded the bond - Ultra Magnus released him and just held him close. Sentinel's antennae were still trembling but his optics were offline now, and he made no move to continue protesting. After a little while he spoke again, barely above a whisper.

"Sorry..."

Ultra Magnus made a soft, comforting sound, reassuring Sentinel without words that it didn't matter. Had he articulated it it most likely would have mattered, would have done the damage it should have done - but if they simply behaved as if it had never happened, made it a forgettable mistake, all would - they knew - be well. Sentinel at last let himself relax into Ultra Magnus' arms and they fell into easy silence. It took half a megacycle but at last the younger Autobot offlined into recharge, tightly pressed against his bondmate's armour even whilst unconscious. The stillness across the bond lulled Ultra Magnus himself, and he stopped fighting his own exhaustion and followed in kind.

--

"Sentinel Prime, you're dismissed. I will remain here with Jazz a further one-sixth of a megacycle."

Ultra Magnus turned back to the console he and Jazz were working at, discharging Sentinel and thus ignoring him. Sentinel turned smartly and left the bridge, making his way to the rear of the ship. They had left Earth solar cycles ago, were back in intergalactic flight. Sentinel heard Jazz explaining something, Ultra Magnus replying - he couldn't make out the words and didn't much care.

What Sentinel had caught and Jazz had missed had been the way Ultra Magnus' gaze had lingered for a fraction of a nano-klik on the young Prime before turning away, the sudden difference in atmosphere that Jazz would not for a moment have noticed - it had been intended for Sentinel only.

Sentinel didn't go far. Instead of making his way to his own quarters he stopped, glanced around and let himself into Ultra Magnus'.

He went in, hardly bothering to look around, not even in wonder at the fact that he was here - he knew the sparse room well enough not to bother. He sat down on the edge of Ultra Magnus' recharge plate, elbows on his knees, and waited.

He lost track of the time, letting himself focus on his spark and on the part of his spark that was not his but his bondmate's, and only thought to look up just as Ultra Magnus' heavy form filled the doorway. No words were exchanged - they were not needed. Sentinel rose and crossed the room, arms slipping around Ultra Magnus' waist, Ultra Magnus' hands finding Sentinel's upper arms and gripping softly. Sentinel's optics dimmed, and they kissed.


End file.
